Legitimization Methods in Persian Proverbs and Proverb-like, and their Role in Discourse Analysis

This study is based on Van Leeuwen’s theory of legitimacy to show how proverbs can legitimize or derive legitimacy from a discourse. The research method is descriptive-analytical and is based on Leeuwen’s components such as authorization, moral evaluation, rationalization, and mythmaking. The statistical population is Twelve Thousand Persian Proverbs and Thirty Thousand Equivalents written by Ebrahim Shakurzadeh Bolouri. The sample size is three thousand Persian proverbs that have been selected from this book based on the systematic random sampling method. The results show that among the legitimation processes, the evaluation components have the highest range with a total of 380 proverbs. This seems to be due to the importance of evaluation as well as the human tendency to evaluate. The results also indicate that proverbs in discourse are used for various purposes such as persuading the audience and legitimizing or deriving legitimacy from a discourse.